It has recently been found that block cheese in sizes weighing 40 pounds or more may be both cured and shipped when vacuum packaged in thermoplastic bags having very low oxygen permeability. The block of cheese ages naturally in the protective environment, air is locked out, and moisture is locked in providing and promoting natural aging and natural flavor. The aging takes place without the instance of mold and the entire block is readily visible making inspection and quality control faster and more acurate. However, loading the heavy blocks of cheese into thermoplastic bags by hand is a cumbersome and time consuming process. In addition, when the job is done manually it is quite difficult to keep the bag mouth free of contact with the surface of the cheese. Since the surface of the cheese is greasy and oily, any contact with the bag mouth will deposit grease or oil in that area. Unfortunately, the bag mouth is the area where a heat seal must be made in order to hermetically seal the vacuumized bag. Any grease or oil will prevent adequate seals from being made so that leakage of air into the bag can occur. Thus, it is one object of the subject invention to provide a method of loading block-like articles into a bag without contacting the mouth of the bag with the article.
Another object of the subject invention is to provide a rapid and automatic method of packaging block-like articles which weigh 40 pounds or more into thermoplastic bags.
These and other objects are accomplished by the subject invention which will be better understood by reference to the Summary of Invention, Description of the Drawings, and the Description of the Preferred Embodiment which follow below.